As characters, they could be satanic siblings, or infernal in-laws: Hellboy, the Hades-born offspring of a witch and a demon; and Dylan Dog, in love with an undead woman who was likely his mother, and battling his nemesis, the devil, who could be his father. Despite their fantastic and often horrific circumstances, at heart each character is a working-class hero, just trying to get the job done.

• Sean Collins grapples with All-Star Batman and Robin: “The thing really is (to quote Grant Morrison’s Mad Hatter) very much cleverer than its rep as a goddamn-Batman meme generator would indicate.”

• Curt Purcell continues his ongoing look at the Blackest Night series and superhero decadence in general.

• Greg McElhatton declares Neil Kleid’s The Big Kahn “easily Kleid’s best work to date as a writer.”

• Brian Hibbs was shocked — shocked I tell you — to discover that Archie #600 was a fun read: “I mean, I’m certainly a “Betty Man”, and that makes a lot more sense to me than Veronica, but Mike Uslan’s script here is remarkably crisp, as well as filled with real drama and pathos.”

• Katherine Dacey on Ooku: The Inner Chamber: “For all its dramatic and socio-political ambitions, volume one isn’t nearly as daring or weird or pointed as it might have been. If anything, it reminds me of a BBC miniseries: it’s tasteful, meticulously researched, and a little too high-minded to be truly compelling.”

• Kinukitty reads the yaoi manga Black Sun and says “I can’t even think about this title without kind of flapping my hands and sputtering a bit.”

• Rob Clough reads and reviews more minicomics, something we all should do more of.

• The Daily Cross Hatch on Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit: “True enjoyment of this volumes ultimately seems to fall on a willingness to embrace the complementary sensibilities of ‘aw, fucking gross’ and ‘oh, fucking sweet,’ ”

• KC Carlson reviews Looking for Calvin and Hobbes by Nevin Martel, a book I was completely unaware of until now.

• Finally, Tim O’Neil has some thoughts on what makes The Thing so awesome.